Superficial Americans Can Learn Something From An Old Fool

I asked in a previous blog, “What Have You Done To Make The World Better?” You’ll find that a passion drives most people who make a concerted effort to create a better world. Of course, it is passion that drives much of the human endeavor, and there is no guarantee that a passion driven activity is positive nor on an elevate level. The passion for collecting Beanie Babies, for instance, does not have an altruistic component, as far as I can tell. The same can be said for a good number of other activities.

There are some altruistic driven passions which are best charitably described as wrong-headed. Take for instance the anti-war activist Jerry Rubin. No, that’s not the Jerry Rubin of the Chicago 7 fame. But rather, the Jerry Rubin of Santa Monica, whose real name now is “Jerry Peace Activist Rubin.” He came to California in 1967:

An unhappy young man fleeing a Philadelphia childhood wracked by epileptic seizures, Rubin by his account was a small-time hoodlum more interested in doing drugs than ending war when he came west to California.

Somewhere among the anti-Vietnam War crowd, Rubin found his calling as a “peace activist,” and he has pursued his mission with a dogged determination ever since. Apparently he doesn’t do much in the way of employment, but does receive a “small stipend” for his work with “…the Los Angeles chapter of the anti-war group Alliance for Survival.”

Here’s an example of Rubin’s passion:

Earlier this month, he completed his 30th peace fast - a three-week, juice-only effort aimed at encouraging people to vote for peace candidates in the Nov. 7 election. (He used to do water-only fasts until a 26-day effort in 1997 nearly killed him.)

Rubin is a fool in the respect that he sincerely believes that the enemies of the free world can be placated, and that they will change their ways if only the free world will accept the agenda of the “peace activists.”

Even though Rubin is a tool for the eventual demise of the United States, I admire him for his passion and his ability to hang in there with his mission despite the abandonment by most of his Anti-Vietnam War crowd. However, it is said that there is “no fool like an old fool” and that’s what Rubin has become. He has gained years, but he has gained neither wisdom nor understanding of the nature of man.

I only wish the run-of-the-mill American could develop some passion for something less trivial than professional sports and entertainment figures. There is something to be learned from wrong-headed Jerry Peace Activist Rubin.